A sad story...

Right now a big story in China is about a 2 year old girl who died after she was run over twice.  18 pedestrians walked by before someone helped. 

Overall I've noticed that the Chinese are not likely to help other people in situations like these.  Before this happened I'd talked about this exact thing with someone who's been here for a while and he pointed out that they're so close to their families but wouldn't help someone bleeding on the street. When you're living in a country with a population of 1.3 billion people is it easier to turn your head?  I suppose you have to put yourself and family first.

For this story 2 obvious groups have formed.  One group is upset that no one would stop to help and let an innocent little girl die. The other group admits they would not have stopped either.  There was a case in 2006 where the good samaritan was convicted of hurting the woman he helped.    The judge in the case ruled that 'common sense dictated that only the person who hit her would take her to the hospital'.  This has obviously discouraged people even more.  I think it has caused a 3rd group to form - a group that wouldn't have helped before but after seeing something so horrible has caused them to rethink what they would do if they met a situation such as this one.

I noticed a few things about a news report I watched.  They show the entire video - even the girl being run over.  Then they show the parents of the girl watching the video of their daughter being run over.  Finally the reporter does her stand up at the hospital with the girl (brain dead) in the background.   

Overall this was eye opening for the Chinese.  I'm not sure it will change much but at least it has got them thinking.

In America I really believe we would stop for a little girl, with no parents around, lying in the street. I can't imagine one person walking by her without stopping. 

Shopping on the bridge

Nearly all bridges look like this.  The bridge is used to cross the street and luckily they are all over the place here - it makes crossing the busy streets so much easier.  You can buy just about anything from these vendors - scarves, iPhone covers / cases, wallets, purses, socks, leggings, sweaters, toys, dancing donkeys, baskets, fruit, hair clips, jewelry, even pets.  I've bought a scarf ($1.50), socks (5 pairs for $1.50), 2 jump ropes ($.25), and a sweater ($7).  Good deals but, like most things in China, the quality isn't very good.

I wish I would have asked this guy how much his turtles cost.

We're open!

This is a typical scene when a business opens in China.  I was walking down the street and could see the firecrackers going off so I decided to cross the street instead of walking through the debris.  Chinese people obviously don't care but I'm always scared there will be one that hasn't gone off yet and goes off when I walk on it.   There are always tacky funeral looking flowers outside a new business.  I'm not actually sure what kind of a place it is.  It looks like a spa.

Down the street there were more firecrackers but I'm not sure what they were for.  Maybe a wedding - or maybe because it was Sunday.  During the past couple weeks due to the holiday I've heard firecrackers a lot more than usual.   I've also been very close to them and noticed they don't tell people to get out of the way until after they've already lit them.  Chinese people are so funny.

Chinese gawking

It's not hard to draw a crowd in China.  The Chinese love to stop and stare at anything - or more likely to see what everyone else is staring at.   Sometimes when I see a crowd of people looking at something I wonder if they really know what they're supposed to be looking at.  One day I'm going to stop and stare at something random - like the top of a tree - and see how long it takes for me to draw a crowd.

Today, however, it was a sad scene.  There was a dead body (covered in plastic) in the middle of the street.  There was a bridge nearly over the body so people stopped on the middle to look down and along the stairs on both sides.

It was a big crowd.  A police van was next to the body directing traffic around it. These people were gawking at a body, under a piece of plastic, and a police van.  Nothing was happening, everything else was cleaned up. I assume there was a vehicle of some kind on its way to pick up the body - maybe they wanted to see if they could catch a glimpse of the whole body and not just the hand sticking out from the plastic. Something I've discovered from personal experience is that the Chinese have no shame in their gawking - whether it's at a white person, a black person, or a dead body.

干杯 - gān bēi - cheers!

Drinking is among the many many MANY cultural differences between China and the west.

Women rarely drink.  It's normal for me to drink a bottle of wine with friends but it isn't for Chinese women.  Sometimes in the middle of the day on Mondays I'll go to a cafe with 2 girlfriends and drink a bottle of wine.  (Since I work the weekend this is essentially my Saturday.)  To the girls serving us the wine this is a completely foreign concept and I can feel the strange looks.  I know Chinese girls that drink but it is a very small percentage.  Smoking is even less common.  I've heard Chinese girls say if they are with a Chinese girl that starts smoking they don't want to be with her anymore.  They compared it to being seen with a prostitute.

When men drink they often buy all the beer they're going to drink at the beginning.  It's very common to see a table covered with beers and/or empty bottles.   This feeds into the concept of 'face' and taking pride in what they are able to drink - and losing 'face' if they're not able to keep up with friends and coworkers. 

báijiǔ often accompanies the beer.  It is a white alcohol that is very cheap and incredibly strong.  It is done in shots.  It's disrespectful to turn down a shot and if you don't do the shot you lose face. 

I found an article in China Daily about Chinese drinking. Here's a few quotes I found relevant:
"Drinking can earn trust and friendship, and not drinking can spoil a deal and undermine relationships. Heavy drinking seems to be a prerequisite for doing business," he said.
"To drink or not to drink, that's a matter of face," said Liu Hao, a senior at a university in Beijing. Always embarrassed by his limited tolerance to alcohol, Liu said he often finds himself in a situation where drinking is obligatory.
"Although I don't like the feeling of being sloshed, I respond to toasts, which are popular in campus life now," Liu said. But he said he wished he could hold his liquor better, seeing that many jobs advertisements nowadays demand applicants have a tolerance for alcohol.

Hard to imagine right???  Because of this I've seen more grown men puking on the streets then I care to count or ever wanted to see.  I've lived in Cancun and New Orleans and I see soooo much more throw up here than I did in those 2 cities combined.  It's everywhere in the morning.  On my way to the gym sometimes I count at least 4 piles of throw up - DAILY.  Yes, it's disgusting!  When I first started seeing it I thought people were dumping food.  I did not want to believe it was what it looked like.   I guess just like all the other differences this is something you just have to say 'well I'm in China' and shrug your shoulders.  I'm not here to judge them and their culture - just to learn about it.

Happy National Day!

Today (October 1st) is the National Day of the People's Republic of China.    This day is similar to our Independence Day.  I started the day being jolted awake because of firecrackers being shot off right outside my window.  This continued everywhere throughout the day.

Walking around felt just like it would feel in the states on the 4th of July.  Everyone was carrying the Chinese flag and displaying it outside of businesses. 

I also received a text from Dorothy.

Music at the mall

Chinese malls are enormous and every time I visit one I see something interesting. 

This video shows a small part of a mall near the Bell Tower.   There is always a DJ blaring some tunes for shopping.

I find it funny when I'm walking through and I hear the 'F**K You' song being played by the DJ.  It must be one of his favorites because I've heard this song played a handful of times.  The Chinese usually have no idea what the lyrics of a song mean. They think anything English is ku (cool). From someone that speaks English - I don't appreciate hearing 'F You' while shopping.

I'm still teaching.....

I have survived 3 weekends of my 2nd semester as an English teacher in China.   I've decided that this semester will be at least a bit better than last semester.  I still teach 21 classes in 2 1/4 days - over 300 students but I enjoy seeing kids from last semester in the hall. 

Highlights from the first weekend of semester #2:

-I have 1 class that is completely the same as last semester.  They are a clever bunch of kids and it was nice to walk in and see their faces.

-I have one kid that laughs at EVERYTHING.  He can't say a word, throw a ball, or hear someone else say a word without him thinking it is the funniest thing.   I wish I found everything that funny.

-I still laugh every time a student falls off their little stool.  They'll just be sitting there and all of a sudden they fall off.  It's hilarious!

-My new 4 year olds kept touching me.  The Chinese teacher was a little disappointed that when she was teaching them they were running all over and not touching her. 

-In one of my mid level classes the lesson was asking and answering questions.  After I asked them the questions in the book I had them ask me the questions.  Students always take this chance to ask personal questions that aren't in the book (usually how old are you).  But this class was more creative and asked me questions like - What's your dream?  Who is your mom?  What's your social security number?     We couldn't figure out how this kid even knew what a social security number was -  I'm keeping my eye on hm.  He's 9 years old!

-I have students with interesting English names- Optimus Prime, Excalibur, Vampire, Bunny (a boy), Happy, Baboo, Yuki.  Yes, I call on these students by their ridiculous name - usually with a straight face. There are FIVE Lilly's in one class.   I named a few kids.  I like naming them after my favorite people from home - Julie, Sara, Alison, Brian.  I had hoped a student in my higher level class would take Eleanor but I think it was too different and difficult. 

-One of my students said I look like Serena from Gossip Girl.  

-I have a lot of students from last semester.  One student has become obsessed with hearing me speak Chinese.  I try not to speak Chinese in class for 2 reasons.  1.  It's English class.  2.  My Chinese isn't great and the students laugh at me and correct my pronunciation.   Number 2 is the biggest reason.  If I ask them for a word in Chinese to make sure they understand the English word I can usually understand that and tell them if they're right or wrong but I am too self conscious of my Chinese to speak it infront of my students.  Crazy how a bunch of Chinese children can intimidate me.

-I asked my older students where they want to travel.  One said America because of the freedom.  I love that answer because it shows me the student realizes she doesn't have freedom here.  That is not a common realization.

I look back at my post after my very first weekend of teaching and it's nice to see how far I've come.  This semester I can just go with the flow, I'm not lost, I can remember names, I know the routine, I know how to give homework, I'm better at coming up with things on my feet, etc.   It's still hard to get past the fact that my job is playing London Bridges, jumping around like a rabbit, and teaching words like cat, kite, girl, boy, umbrella, table, chair, pencil, ball, book.  Luckily, sometimes I even enjoy it.

Overall, I really like the kids.  I could write a post every day for at least a year about China in general and what I've learned since arriving here 6.5 months ago. It's made me appreciate the kids. They are so innocent and too young to not realize how controlling their country is.

21 lessons to go!

Dorothy

I said in my Texting with Zhōng gúo rén post that I have a stalker.  I feel bad calling Dorothy a stalker because despite being a bit crazy, she has good intentions.

Dorothy was the nice woman who helped me join my gym.  I assumed she was about 40 and married with one child.  We didn't exchange phone numbers and I went months without seeing her at the gym.   My roommate ran into her outside of our school and she asked if she knew me.  Lorynn said she did.  That weekend Dorothy showed up at school.  She talked to Lorynn again for a bit but I never saw her.  A few weeks later I finally ran into her at the gym and we exchanged numbers.

When we met for lunch I was surprised to learn she is 33 years old, was divorced a year ago, and has no children.  During lunch she came off as very desperate for a friend and a bit depressed.   She asked me personal questions about my past relationships and how I made them work.  My answers were too complicated for her level of English and there was something about her that just rubbed me the wrong way.  I knew she wasn't someone I could be good friends with.  I definitely didn't want to go to Tibet with her like she suggested.

I received a couple texts from her during the weeks that followed.  One said 'I miss you so much'.  One weekend I was in the middle of teaching a class when Dorothy opened the door.  Luckily my Chinese teacher was standing right by the door.  She spoke with her and got rid of her.  Apparently she wasn't asking anything about me she was asking her questions about how she teaches - in the middle of our class!  She also stopped Lorynn in the hall and asked questions about how she teaches.  Our manager pulled Lorynn away from Dorothy and said she was a spy from another school.  She's told me before that she has come to the school looking for me so I'm pretty sure she's not a spy.

About a month later I got this text from her:
Dear Joy:  There will be a night club for people from America to dance and relax.  Would you like to join.  
A night club for Americans to dance and relax?  That wasn't very appealing and I thought it was best to continue to cut ties with her.  I wrote her back and said I was too busy.
She responded:  I do hope you are happy healthy :-) Take care. 

I still get a call from her every other week (which I don't answer) but I'm hoping this is the end of the Dorothy story.

Bike riding in Dali

I rode along the Erhai Lake and passed through a few small villages.  The people were very friendly.   There were lots of farmers working hard in the fields. I noticed many of them were women. I actually noticed most people doing physical labor in Yunnan were female. 

Corn drying in the sun.  They removed the kernels from the cobs and left the cob and the kernels in the sun.

I came to this missing bridge and decided to turn back

The three pagodas in Dali

There was much more than just three pagodas.  Look at this map:

I walked a lot of it.  I heard it was massive but this was more than I was expecting.  The grounds are filled with temples and lots of Buddhas inside the temples.

The pagodas are made of brick and covered in white mud.  The big one was built during 823-840 AD.  The smaller ones were built 100 years later.  The designer was said to come from Xi'an.  There is a pagoda here that was built 100 years before these and is of a similar design. 

Dali

From Lijiang I took a 4 hour bus ride to Dali.  It felt like we were driving in the clouds - we were so high. It was a beautiful ride.  I sat next to a tour guide.  She found it funny that she is always talking to foreigners and of course ended up next to the only foreigner on the bus.

Dali has a population of around 590,000 people.  It's a very laid back city located near mountains and a lake.

There is an Old Town with many cafes and shops.  It's quite different than Lijiang's Old Town.  There aren't as many tourists, the streets are much easier to navigate, and there seems to be more foreigners.

I found some of the shops to be confusing.

 (This one sells duck heads and mens clothing)

(Ice cream and shoes)

The restaurants display their food outside.

I'm not going to post the picture of the cow skin I found in the street.  It was just laying there outside a shop with a little bit of blood.

(A typical butcher)

One night I met up with a coworker from Xi'an.  After playing beer pong at his hostel we went and found a Dali 'rave'. It was not what I would call a rave but it was a great time - outside, music, dancing, sparklers, and a few people.

(Beer Pong)

 (The rave)

I decided to try hostel dorm life in Dali.  It is a much cheap way to travel than getting my own room and something I've never done (which is unheard of in the hostel world).  I didn't meet many people in Lijiang so I thought staying in a dorm would be a good way to meet people in Dali.

The room would have had 3 other people but it remained empty the entire time I was there.  Luckily I did meet a couple of older Australian women that were staying in my hostel.    There was also a Chinese cooking show chef building a pizza oven at the hostel for his TV show.    What are the odds??  He's from Canada and is shooting the 3rd season of his show that airs on the Chinese Travel Channel.  It was interesting to talk to him about the differences between shooting a reality show in China and in the US.